By James Wilkinson in Bangkok

Thai Airways has announced changes to two Australian routes, with non-stop services being introduced between Bangkok and Brisbane, and Royal First Class cabins returning to the Sydney service.

Thai Airways is set to fly non-stop Bangkok-Brisbane

The announcement was made during a media briefing at the 2009 Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) Annual General Meeting in Bangkok last week (Aug 22), an event sponsored by Thai Airways.

The airline said it would continue to fly three times daily between Bangkok and Sydney, with two services being operated by Airbus A340-600 aircraft – featuring eight Royal First Class, 60 Royal Silk Business Class and 199 Economy Class seats – and the other by a two-class Boeing 777 aircraft.

A spokesperson for Thai Airways said the changes come into place from October 25, 2009 and the A340-600 would operate both the afternoon and evening flights to Bangkok with connections to Europe, the Middle-east, India and other Asian cities, while the B777 would continue to operate the morning flight with connections to domestic Thailand and Asian cities.

On the same day, the spokesperson said Thai would introduce five-time weekly non-stop services between Bangkok and Brisbane – a route that was previously operated via Sydney on inbound services.

The move bodes well for outbound MICE traffic to Thailand, which is showing signs of a strong recovery, as reported on SpiceNews last week.